I taught my first Group Exercise class in 1988 as a junior in high school. I was hooked. I found my lane, my niche, my way to be active, strong, fierce, fearless… and to help others find theirs, too. As an undergraduate, I built Millikin University’s first Group Exercise program in 1991. I served as the Graduate Assistant managing SIU-Carbondale’s Group Exercise programs in 1994. Helping others exercise in challenging, safe and fun ways was just in my blood.

From 1995-2011, I married, got my first full time job, built an amazing professional career, raised my son… and gained weight. A lot of weight. I was a hard-working, lifelong-learning, diligent, caring human… and I was seemingly trapped in a vicious cycle of losing and regaining weight, feeling like a failure for ‘knowing better yet not doing better," and growing increasingly anxious and depressed in my body.

In 2011, something changed. I remember waking up one morning and thinking:

“This has to stop. If living in this body is going to hurt this bad, I can’t imagine another year. I have to try… one more time. But this time, one day at a time. No more diets, 30-day detoxes, bootcamps or do-or-die goals. Can I do things differently, today? That’s all I’ll think about. Today. Because if I keep worrying about ‘the goal’, and whether or not I’ll make it to tomorrow (or the next day), I’ll never make it through today. Because I won’t be here, present today to live my life. I’ll be everywhere but the present… ‘regretting my past and grasping frantically for future goals,’ feeling guilt and shame about all the other times I’ve tried and ‘failed’… and catastrophizing about my future outcomes.”

Long story short: Over the next 18 months, I did things differently. And found the strongest, healthiest life I’d every experienced — even more so than in those ‘teens and twenties’ when I had youth on my side! I resumed GroupEx teaching in 2012, dug deeper than ever into self-directed and collaborative learning around fitness, nutrition and mindfulness, began coaching in 2018, and haven’t looked back!

Over a decade later and counting: I’ve kept the weight off and improved my body composition and metabolic markers — through not one but two hip replacements, a demanding career, and all the other curveballs life inevitably throws us! How? One day at a time, every single day, with respect for and attention to the 4 pillars of health: Sleep, nutrition, exercise and mindfulness.

Nothing woo-woo. No quick fixes. Just small, doable, daily action-reflection-recalibration iterations. “What the heck does that mean,” you ask? Don’t worry. It’s really straightforward. It’s the simplicity on the far side of the complexity (all that ‘noise’ in fitness, nutrition & wellness marketing and ‘influencing’ today). Let’s master the art of this iterative process to a stronger, healthier body and mind — together!